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Synapse
Synapse, real name Steven Berry, is a hero, a Task Force organizer in Skyway City, and a member of The Freedom Phalanx in City of Heroes. Steven was given super-speed and electrical generation during an infamous incident with Crey Industries, one he has never forgotten and will never let the world forget. Origin Originally Steven Berry worked for the Crey Industries like most of Paragon City, though officially an accountant, he had volunteered for various extra Crey programs to make enough money to get his car repaired. Steven's friends Diego Alvarez and Raymond Keyes worked at the Crey as well and he was glad to be able to keep in contact with them while he took on extra jobs to get his car repaired. In his time at the company Steven eventually found a program called "the Disaster Relief Suit project". The Disaster Relief Suit program seemed to be hiding some of it's expenses. Since Raymond Keyes and his co-worker Rudy Beins were heads of the project Steven went to Ray to ask him about the expenses but Ray seemed to be unaware of the discrepancy. Diego was a computer expert and so Steven asked for his help uncovering the hidden files of the program. Diego agreed and the two eventually found that while Ray was doing most of the work on the company's new power suit for relief efforts Dr. Beins was working on a mass production program that looked like he was getting ready to bid the project to others once the preliminaries were finished. Steven went to Crey Industries internal investigations and gave them the information about the project along with his concerns, Crey said they would bring the hammer down on Beins and thanked Berry for his honesty and integrity and the hard work he and Alvarez had put in. As Berry left he realized he hadn't actually mentioned Diego's name or part in the investigation and became unnerved. As Steven left the building he was ambushed by Crey security and taken at gun-point to a secret lab. Dr. Beins was waiting for him and already had captured Diego. Beins had both Diego and Steven strapped to operating tables, both were considered for elimination but because Berry had signed up for any extra programs he was to be used as a guinea-pig for another program to induce superpowers through gene-therapy. Steven had to watch as Diego was quickly killed in the preparation stages of the experiment, which were corrected for Steven's turn. Beins and the other scientists put Steven through a variety of painful processes from electrocutions, to evasive non-sedative operations, to nerve mutilation. The end goals was to induce super powers in normal humans and it would eventually pay off, though far more radically than Crey had expected. Once Steven become a meta-human his powers were more than Crey estimated and he broke his restraints. Steven found he could generate electricity and used it to overpower the initial security and with the discovery that he also could move at super-speed, sped to Raymond Keyes' lab to ask for help. When Steven got to Ray's lab he was barely able to get out what had happened before he fell unconscious from the pain. Ray was confronted by Dr. Beins and told that Steven had signed up for the test program and was just irate from a particularly taxing experiment and he was under orders to return him and get back to work on his power suit. Ray had in-fact just finished his power-suit but did not believe Steven had willingly signed up for anything and that it was more than a minor program. Raymond dawned his power suit and used it to escape the building with Steven in tow. When Steven woke up he was in a hospital with Ray by his side. Freedom Phalanx Steven and Ray made a formal report against Crey but Crey evaded the charges by claiming they had no knowledge of any experiments, the labs were cleared out and since all the scientists had worn operating masks Steven could not identify anyone other than Beins and Beins himself had been erased from company records and was no-where to be found in the building. Crey would quickly end all follow-up investigations with some well placed bribes and blackmail among the city's law-enforcers, though this meant Diego's death and Steven's ordeal would go unpunished it also meant that Crey would not be able to take action to retrieve their first super-powered test-subject or power-suit, setting their meta-human projects back considerably. Steven and Ray both decided to use their powers to fight Crey and others like them to prevent anyone else in the city from being victimized by the new blossoming age of super-science. Steven took on the name Synapse and Raymond took on the name Positron and the two soon signed up for Paragon City's super-hero program, the Freedom Phalanx. Once on the Freedom Phalanx and working with the likes of legendary heroes like Statesman and Sister Psyche' Synapse and Positron began putting their powers to use fighting super-villains and making sure everyone knew that Crey Industries were among them even if no legal action could be taken against them, Powers and Abilities Steven's greatest power is his super-speed and he can easily move faster than the speed of sound. Not only is Synapse among the fastest of all meta-humans but unlike other meta-humans with super-speed Synapse constantly moves at super-speed, never needing to activate it and possessing enough endurance to never be tired out by it. Synapse conducts and generates electricity through-out his body allowing him to shoot bolts of electricity at will. Synapse has the ability to turn himself into a whirl-wind and uses this to knock-back foes that get withing melee ranges of him or just use himself as a living wrecking ball and speed through large groups of villains. Synapse has above average intellect, though not genius and the gene-therapy seems to have had the side-effect of increasing how quickly his muscles benefit from exercise as a result though he does not have super-human strength he is in peak physical human condition. Personality Steven is somewhat laid back in his personal life, or at-least appears to be, making jokes taking bad news in stride and sweet-talking any available attractive woman he meets. Steven's seemingly care-free demeanor quickly dissipates once trouble arises and he becomes dead-pan serious whenever Crey or mad scientists become involved in a situation. Steven is a motor enthused and likes working on his car in his spare time, even though he no longer uses it. During the events of Hard Crash, when Arachnos robbed all the super-heroes in Paragon of their powers Steven becomes grumpy and depressed that after all the pain he went through he no longer had powers, the one good thing that he gained from the experiment. Steven is said to still have frequently recurring nightmares about Crey's experiment reliving the ordeal over and over in great detail. Category:City of Heroes Heroes Category:Elementals Category:Video Game Heroes Category:Comic Book Heroes Category:Rescuers Category:Supporters Category:Protectors Category:Vengeful Category:Outright Category:Male Category:Neutral Good Category:Superheroes